Middleton, Fla. — Coming off a shutout loss and facing a two-score deficit early, The Villages High School football team could've easily folded Friday night on The Range at H.G. Morse Stadium.
But the Buffalo dug deep to rally past visiting South Lake (Groveland), using a dominant second quarter to eventually propel themselves to a 36-24 home victory.
VHS (2-1 overall) flipped a 10-0 hole in the first quarter into a 20-10 lead at halftime, thanks in large part to four consecutive turnovers by the Eagles (1-2). The Buffalo then held on late as South Lake mounted a brief comeback of its own, sealing the deal with a rushing score in the final minute to move on from a 38-0 loss one week ago at Lecanto.
"I'm just so proud of how the kids responded from last week to this week, and that's just what we needed," VHS head coach
Richard Pettus said. "It could've went the other way quickly, but the fight and grit we had, that was so great to see ."
The Eagles struck first in the opening quarter on a 28-yard touchdown pass from Tre Kelly to Izaiah Henderson, before a 42-yard field goal from Christopher McKenna made it 10-0 in favor of the visitors. VHS was stuck in neutral offensively in the early going, tallying just seven yards of offense in the first quarter and an interception.
It was the Buffalo defense who sparked things in the second quarter, however, as the unit forced turnovers on four straight South Lake possessions to push VHS back in front at halftime.
An interception by
Jeremiah Wimes started the snowball effect, leading to a 34-yard field goal from
Bradee Powell. The Buffalo tied things up at 10-10 when
Jonathan Harding hauled in a 43-yard touchdown pass from his brother,
Patrick Harding, which followed a strip-sack and fumble recovery by the VHS defense.
On the ensuing play from scrimmage,
Cole Logan jumped on a botched South Lake handoff, with the Buffalo cashing in two plays later on a 22-yard touchdown run by
Maleek Williams for a 17-10 advantage.
Following an interception by
Xavier Walton on defense, VHS added a 45-yard field goal from Powell — a career long — to extend its lead to 20-10 at the half.
"It was our effort to get back into it there after facing some early adversity," Pettus said of the second-quarter comeback. "We finally started to do some things right on offense and our defense made some huge plays for us, creating the turnovers, and it felt like we just really started clicking there (in the second quarter)."
The Buffalo added onto their advantage on the first possession of the second half, scooting 52 yards on six plays, with Walton pulling in a 22-yard touchdown pass from the younger Harding to push VHS out to a 27-10 lead.
South Lake stormed back with a pair of touchdowns late in the third quarter, as Keydrick Powell brought in a 5-yard touchdown pass and Kaden Magloire took a swing pass 65 yards to the house to make it 27-24 entering the fourth.
Once in the final quarter, the Buffalo defense showed up again, as
Reece Dennis dragged down Rome McKinnond for a 4-yard loss in the end zone and a safety, extending the Buffalo lead to 29-24 with 8:51 to play.
Another South Lake interception, this one tipped and picked by Logan on the Buffalo defense, set VHS up for its game-clinching score at the Eagles' 12-yard line. It took just five grind-it-out plays from there, before the senior Harding took a direct snap into the end zone from a yard out for the night's final margin.
Jonathan Harding finished with eight catches for 123 yards and a pair of touchdowns — one rushing, one receiving — while Williams finished as the leading rusher with 21 carries for 70 yards.
Patrick Harding completed 14-of-29 passes for 204 yards, two touchdowns and an interception.
VHS will now shift its attention to another Citrus County foe, Citrus from Inverness, with the Hurricanes and Buffalo set for a 7 p.m. kickoff next Friday night from The Range at H.G. Morse Stadium.
Cody Hills can be reached for questions or comment at cody.hills@tvcs.org or by calling (352) 259-6890.
